


light up like a fuse

by ohallows



Category: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast)
Genre: Explosions, Fluff, Future Fic, Gen, Science, happy bday iz!!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-20
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,759
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23229604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ohallows/pseuds/ohallows
Summary: Skraak decides to intern for Cel after the entire infection situation has been settled.
Relationships: Celiquillithon Sidebottom & Jasper, Celiquillithon Sidebottom & Skraak
Comments: 10
Kudos: 25





	light up like a fuse

**Author's Note:**

> HAPPY BIRTHDAY IS OF BELLE
> 
> I LOVE U A LOT I HOPE U ENJOY
> 
> au where skraak and hamid talked it out and the kobolds brutally murdered everyone involved w that institute and they all figured out how to stop the infection and actually stopped it and now they’re happy and chilling and skraak actually did come over to work with cel bc they know a lot abt fluidics and them and jasper are the best interns cel’s ever had
> 
> also pls tell me if the way i wrote jasper’s stutter is insensitive i tried doing some research on it but am always willing to learn more!

“Hmmmm,” Cel says, squinting their eyes as they swirl a substance around in a small beaker. It’s a bright yellow, when it  _ should  _ be more of, well, a pineapple color. Maybe a bumblebee shade, if they were being specific. Regardless, this is  _ not  _ that shade, and they aren’t sure where in the process they went wrong. “Interesting.” 

“What’s interesting?” Jasper asks, peering around their hip. “Oh. Wonder how th...that happened.”

Skraak comes up next, scratching absently at their scales. “What is it?” 

Cel holds the beaker up to the light and grabs another flask, holding them next to each other. Skraak makes a noise of understanding and nods, looking around them for the color cheat chart that Cel keeps around. It’s hanging, a bit out of their reach, but that’s never been an issue for Skraak. They climb the shelves, dexterous as ever, and nab the sheet, landing gently back on the floor. 

“Here,” they say, and Jasper takes it, face scrunching up as he scans it. 

“I think it’s, hmm. Polysorbate? It’s pretty f… it’s pretty familiar,” Jasper says, squinting down at the paper. “What do you think?” 

Cel nods as Skraak glances at it as well, and gives Jasper a wink as he smiles. Skraak looks at it for a little bit longer than Jasper does. It’s all handwritten; Skraak’s gotten nearly as good as Jasper at deciphering Cel’s incredibly scribbly handwriting and multilingual notes, but it still sometimes takes them a moment. They learned pretty quickly, which is something Cel appreciates in someone they’re working with, and even started adding their own little notes in the margins. 

They look up from the paper and point as Jasper. “I agree,” they say, and Cel claps. “Well done, you two. That’s exactly what it is - now, that’s  _ not  _ what we were particularly going for, but alchemy was never meant to be easy, so we’re just going to have to restart the entire experiment. Maybe we can transmute this…” Cel trails off, thinking about the possibilities as Skraak and Jasper share a look. “I’ll grab the new components we need - Skraak, you grab the book, I think I know everything we need, the gods know I’ve attempted this enough times, but you can never be too careful, you know? Jasper, we’re going to need  _ snacks.  _ Oh, and some of those vials I keep in the kitchen, you know the ones, cheers.”

“On it!” Jasper says, and ducks out of the room, letting the door swing closed behind him. Cel and Skraak work in silence together; it’s different from Cel and Jasper, both of whom are incredibly chatty, but Cel still enjoys it. Skraak reads off the ingredient list as Cel grabs things by memory - they know the entire list, they’re sure of it, but they need to give Skraak something to do and they’re never quite sure about the  _ quantity _ anyway. 

So they get all the ingredients together and then they set Skraak to mixing them up, pointing out what to do over their shoulder until it seems like Skraak has a good handle on it. The potion seems to be going better this time - honestly, alchemy is so  _ fickle _ \- and Cel is watching it a bit more closely. 

Until, of course, Jasper brings in cakes and some tea. Cel hasn’t eaten all day, so they head over and grab some, trying to settle their stomach. 

“Oi, Skraak -“ they call. “The potion can sit for a minute, come grab some food.”

Skraak quickly glances one more time at the instruction list and seems to confirm it for themselves before slowly coming over and joining the two of them. 

They eat together for a moment, Cel and Jasper chatting about the rest of the orders they need to complete before the week is through. It’s been a banner month for them, with new orders coming in from everywhere, and Cel is planning on working a little bit double time to get them done. Maybe they can convince Hamid to stop by and give them a hand; he’s always had the most dexterous fingers of the group. They love Azu, but she’s a little clumsy and also has to stoop anytime they’re in the temporary lab that Cel’s set up. Zolf would be helpful as well, but he isn’t always the best at  _ listening  _ to directions. Plus, they’re incredibly content with Skraak and Jasper’s help, and is glad Skraak agreed to come by and assist. Cel  _ really  _ needs to start working with fluidics more, now that they’re here. 

Cel doesn’t notice that the potion has gone…. well,  _ wrong, _ until it’s too late. They hear a strange high-pitched noise over the sound of Skraak’s laughter, and their remaining ear flicks toward it just before Cel turns their head. They stand, confused, and head toward the potion in the flash, which is… giving off  _ steam? _

“That’s not…” Cel mutters to themselves, and grabs what they think should solve the problem, dumping a few drops into the potion. The steam goes away, which is good, but then the potion begins to bubble, which is  _ less  _ good. 

Jasper and Skraak notice, as well. Jasper races toward the flask and begins to bounce excitedly next to Cel, grabbing his own set of goggles and slipping them on over their head. Cel’s proud that he remembered. Lab safety is  _ always  _ the most important thing, and even if Cel doesn’t abide by some of the rules, er, well, most of the time, really, they expect both Skraak and Jasper to follow them to the letter. 

The beaker - well, it’s started bubbling, and Cel scrunches up their nose as they peer a bit closer, getting a careful whiff. It  _ really  _ shouldn’t be doing that, not if they’ve added everything correctly, but with this specific mix of chemicals, well, there are three other options if it’s bubbling. And all three… well, Cel doesn’t really fancy going out either of those three ways, so they make a contingency plan on the fly. 

None of the potions they’re packing will solve the imminent explosion/acid death/freezing (really, they just need to know  _ which  _ chemical is off to know which grisly end they’re escaping from) so they need to improvise. 

“Hmm. Well. Not that this hasn’t been an absolute, er,  _ blast _ , but. We. Should  _ go _ ,” Cel says hurriedly, and fumbles through their coat looking for a specific potion. They curse, because all these  _ bloody pockets _ don’t have what they need and they’re  _ sort of  _ on a time limit here, and they don’t need this or that or this or - oh. This. It’ll do nicely. Better than nicely, even. Super-ly. They - they don’t think that’s a word, but they really don’t have time to examine it at the moment. 

They neck it and hench out, wings splitting through their lab coat - and, damn, this one was their  _ favorite,  _ the best one they had. Too late to worry about it - Skraak gets tucked under one arm, confusedly protesting, and Jasper under another, casual and used to Cel grabbing him to get him away from danger. 

They kick out a window - so  _ much  _ less badass than they always think it’s going to be, and more just  _ messy,  _ pieces of glass sticking out at awkward angles. Thankfully, the gap is big enough for Cel to dive through, and then they’re rolling along the ground until their wings snap out. 

“Time to get away!” they call down, hoping that they can be understood through the fangs; thankfully, Skraak has stopped struggling, seemingly resigned to Cel carrying them out of the blast radius. Thankfully, it’s not far before they set the both of them down, carefully on a small patch of grass. 

The explosion (not freezing, Cel notes, and pulls out a scrap of paper to write it down) goes off only a few seconds later, and Skraak and Jasper shield their eyes a bit as the hut goes up. Cel watches it through their glasses, grinning widely as there’s a final puff of blue smoke before everything dissipates. 

They write it all down in their notebook, careful to get as in-depth as possible, and then look up again. “Ah, damn. Another lab gone,” they sigh, staring at the smouldering remains of the temporary hut they’d built for the experiment.

“Well!” Cel says, hands on their hips as they spin to face Jasper and Skraak. Jasper looks unaffected, pretty used to this after years of working with Cel, and even Skraak looks like they expected nothing less. Cel beams at them, taking it as a compliment. “Good work today, you two - Jasper, you’re really coming along with the improvisations, and I think we’ll have a breakthrough soon, I can - can just  _ feel it _ . Skraak, it’s always a delight. Happy to have you helping out - and we  _ really  _ need to discuss fluidics more, I have a few ideas about using these principles to power  _ machinery  _ instead of using elementals, but I just need some more time to  _ cement  _ my thoughts, yeah?”

“Anytime,” Skraak says, inclining their head. “Back tomorrow.”

“Delightful!” Cel responds, reaching out and shaking their clawed hand. “Always a pleasure. And tomorrow, I think I know how not to make this blow up now, so get excited!”

Skraak waves, a bit awkward mixed with anticipation, and then scampers off toward the entrance to the underground kobold tunnels. Cel’s offered for them to stay at their place in the past, but Skraak always looks at the hut with distrust. Cel can’t really blame them; there’s usually a less-than-healthy amount of smoke coming from the ceiling and both the cot and the sofa are covered in pieces of metal and gears. So Skraak stays with their family, and shows up bright and early every morning to do some more work with the two of them. It’s a good system. 

Cel and Jasper wave back as Skraak leaves, and then they both turn back to the temporary lab. 

“We should search it,” Jasper suggests, glancing up at Cel. “F...for remains.”

Cel nods, and then starts the trek forward, still all henched out. They’re doubtful that anything isn’t destroyed - it’s why they use the temporary lab for anything dangerous, since Cel rather likes their house. 

“Haven’t had an explosion in a while,” Jasper says, surveying the scene in front of them. “Almost m...missed it.”

Cel rests their forearm on his head, and Jasper sighs, letting it happen.

“Yeah, Jasper,” Cel says. “Couldn’t be helped. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

They have all the time in the world, after all.

**Author's Note:**

> hmu at ohallows on tumblr ALSO RUSTY QUILL GAMING FEMSLASH WEEK STARTS SUNDAY MARCH 22 GET EXCITED (@rqgfemslashweek on twt and tumblr)


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